The Management Association of the Philippines is pushing the Department of Transportation to consider upgrading and privatizing the EDSA Busway and rail systems.
To lessen the strain on commuters, the Department of Transportation (DoTr) is being pushed to consider privatizing the EDSA Busway and other urban rail systems.
The Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) stressed that the DoTr should seriously study the possibility of privatizing the EDSA busway and urban commuter rail systems, which include the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3), Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT-2), and commuter lines operated by the Philippine National Railway (PNR).
The infrastructure will be provided by the government in the commuter lines under a “hybrid mode,” and a private concessionaire will run the service and care for the facilities under an operate and maintenance (O&M) concession, at government’s initial expense.
“MAP has offered to work with the DoTr and other private sector stakeholders in preparing the terms of reference for the bidding and award of the concessions to ensure a level playing field for all,” Business World reported.
The MAP recommended that DoTr should concentrate on completely upgrading the EDSA bus system, as commuters typically encounter long queues during rush hour.
“The upgrade will complete the EDSA busway, a work-in-progress, scale up its capacity and raise it to the level of global standards to optimize the system to achieve its full potential as a cost-effective, efficient, high-capacity urban mass public transport system commensurate to the high-commuter density of EDSA, and, as well, to ensure long-term sustainability to ably serve its role as the complementary mass transport to the MRT-3,” the business group said.
“These lines should have the shortest waiting time (and therefore the shortest queues) for commuters during rush hours,” the MAP said.
The MAP proposed increasing station platforms' load capacity, adding additional stops, and expediting the installation of donated footbridges for busway station platforms as part of an upgrade to the EDSA busway.
They said that the DoTr should develop similar busways in commuter-heavy districts of the National Capital Region and solve the chokepoints along the EDSA Bus Carousel.
MAP said that President Marcos, Jr. should issue an executive order to “enjoin all relevant agencies to comply with the National Transport Plan (NTP) of 2017, particularly to prioritize people mobility through public transportation and active mobility, such as walking and biking, by prioritizing the allocation of road space for such purposes.”
“Currently, busway station platforms and sidewalks are very narrow and grossly inadequate as the space required for them were allocated instead to augment private vehicle lanes under misguided car-oriented road management policy,” the MAP said.
Tags: #MAP, #DoTr, #EDSABusway, #MRT, #LRT, #PNR, #upgradeandprivatize